"People of the world are so imbued with their own stupidity that they can never believe that one of their own has talent. They appreciate only people of letters who are not of their world." (Marcel Proust)

"The charms of the passing woman are generally in direct proportion to the swiftness of her passing." (Marcel Proust, A la Recherche du temps perdu)

"The only true paradises are the paradises which we have lost." (Marcel Proust)

"There is probably not one person, however great his virtue, who cannot be led by the complexities of life’s circumstances to a familiarity with the vices he condemns the most vehemently—without his completely recognizing this vice which, disguised as certain events, touches him and wounds him: strange words, an inexplicable attitude, on a given night, of the person whom he otherwise has so many reasons to love." (Marcel Proust, A la Recherche du temps perdu)